Public Comment

I am so sick-and-tired of the same horror being repeated again and again and, tragically, once again. Hundreds of mass shootings, killing thousands of children, women, and men, and still, Republicans in Congress refuse to enact strong gun control. They say it would not be effective, that it would be unconstitutional. It would endanger their funding from the National Rifle Association.

When the 2nd amendment was written, people were guaranteed the right to bear arms, implicitly to resist a totalitarian government. BUT that right is guaranteed ONLY in the context "of a well-regulated militia." It does not give every crazy asshole the right to shoot-em-up whenever and wherever he wants.

Gun use should be licensed, like driving is, with periodic background checks and proficiency (safety) tests. Usage can be regulated, as distinct from ownership.

Those who oppose licensing gun usage because it wouldn't stop criminals, are sacrificing the doable at the alter of perfection. It takes time for gun regulation to take root. It took about 12 years before Australia's gun restrictions reduced gun deaths, but slowly, the new system worked.

If gun licensing prevents even one deadly carnage, wouldn't that be worth it? As the sages taught us, "when you save a life, it's as if you have saved the entire world."